Western Canadian Rockies (WCR) – Day 7 – Jasper

 

We remain in and around Jasper today (Sunday, June 16^th instead of the 17 noted above) and this morning after breakfast we will head out to Maligne Lake and a cruise.  As we were eating breakfast, three elk came wandering along the road in front of the hotel.  As you might guess, I did not have my camera.  But, as we were leaving for Maligne Lake, we spotted the elk.   So now, besides the beer, otter and deer we have elk.

As we drive to Maligne Lake the sun is just coming through the clouds and in spots you can see the sun rays as the sun comes falling onto the mountains.  The sun strikes the snow on the tops of the mountains and creates such a spectacular view.

We make a stop at Medicine Lake which is the catch basin for Maligne Lake and take a few pictures.  This is a fabulous view with the lake in front of the mountains in the background. 

 

Here is Carmen and I at the lake.

About a half mile down the lake on top of one of the trees is an eagle’s nest.  I was able to capture the nest, but it is so far away, it is difficult to really see the eagle clearly. 

 

We continued along the road to Maligne Lake.  But, before we get there, we came across an elk eating beside the road.  It could care less that we were there and just stared at the bus.  Some of us were wondering if it could see herself in the tinted windows.  In any case, as you can see she has a tracking collar.

 

We make it to Maligne Lake and the vista from the docks where we will board the cruise boat is fantastic.  As you can see, you can rent a canoe or kayak and paddle around the lake.  No gas powered motor boats allowed on the lake except for the cruise boats.  So if you go, its electric motors or paddles

Traveling along the lake it is difficult not to be impressed with the scenery.

 

Mountains jut up from the lake to snowy peaks, some with glaciers still on them like this one.

 

We even get to see a mountain with a glacier on it.  All of the mountains around this lake are fantastic. 

 

We near the end of the lake to where the boat stops for a few minutes to allow us to get the full vision of the snow capped mountains.  Fantastic, that is all I can say and hope the pictures do the vision justice.

 

We dock near the end of the lake for a short walk to a viewpoint which provides a good view of Spirit Island.  Photographed and published many times and I now have my own photo.

 

While at Spirit Island this duck landed in the water right in front of us while we were walking near the water. 

On our way to the bus for the return trip to the hotel, we spotted a couple deer and I was able to get a picture of them.  So besides the elk, eagle, and duck, we can include deer for today.

 

After stopping for our trip picture at the Maligne Canyon, we settled in for a quite ride back to the hotel where we will await our transportation to our raft trip down the Athabasca River.  Our bus picks us up and takes us to the raft boat.  The scenery on the river is just fantastic.

Some of us got a little wet during the trip; here is the other half of our boat trying to escape the water just came into the raft. 

Our side of the boat was not as lucky as we got drenched on this dive into the water.  It is blurry because I was trying to escape, as much of the cold water as I could, didn’t happen.

 

We continued down the river for a total of 16km and through some fantastic vistas. 

Every turn of the river brings us more views that are spectacular.  Before ending our raft trip, we saw an osprey sitting high in a tree looking for something to eat.  We finally reach our pull out location and get on the bus for the hotel, some of us dripping wet but happy.

 

Carmen and I are also going on a dinner and Mt Edith Cavell nature and glacier hike.  On the way to the mountain, we spotted a black bear (yes, it is cinnamon in color not black, but it is a black bear).  Yes, it kept its back to us all of the time until it got into the bushes and rushed fron one bush to the other.

 

We stop at a look out and we are able to have a good look at Mt Edith Cavell.  

There is also a fantastic view of the valley with the snow capped mountains on either side and at the end.  The sun is setting and shining in through from the right side creating that light line on the right side of the valley.

As we leave the lookout area, we spot a grizzly bear.  Now mind you he did not cooperate very well and I was only able the get a picture of his back side, but we saw him.

We hiked up to the glaciers on Mt Edith Cavell; this one called Angel glacier because of the wings spread out to the side and the body coming down the center.  I do not have a straight on picture, but you can still see the shape of the angel.

Here is the Cavell glacier with Carmen and me in front of it.

 

There was also some glacier run off waterfalls, which disappeared beneath the snow pack.

I had to stop and take a picture of the glacial runoff as we passed it.

Okay, now we are heading back to the hotel, and as you can see, the sun is shining just on the tip top of Mt Edith Cavell.  Well believe it or not, it is 10:00 pm.  Yes, I said 10:00 pm. 

 

But wait, shortly after we leave Mt Edith Cavell, we see another Black Bear (again a cinnamon colored bear).  We stopped a good distance from the bear so we wouldn’t scare it, because it was coming towards us, but it went up into the woods anyway and we did not see it again.

We end our day with a sunset at 10:30 at night.  Well this ends a long day on the road and it looks like another long day tomorrow.  But, today we saw elk, deer, eagle, osprey, black bear, and grizzly bear.  Just to let you know, that the blog postings may start getting late.  It’s tough to get in just before 11:00 and get up the next morning by 6:00am.  So I’m late posting this, and as a matter of fact didn’t get to post it until the next day, until later Bob and Carmen.